1885 St.Thomas, Ontario enroute to Chicago
A
map of Margaret and James Franklin’s passage through the Great Lakes on The Grand Trunk
Railroad’s (1887 map) with connections from Burlington, Vermont to Chicago,
Illinois. JUMBO, Barnum and Bailey’s 13
foot tall elephant was hit by a Grand Trunk Train while trying to help dwarf
Asian elephant Tom Thumb in St. Thomas, Ontario classification yard.
Prolonged screeching brakes woke them.
Their train car shuttered to a lurching start, then stop.
Watch out! Margaret
shouted as she and James were knocked into the wall of the boxcar, buffeted by
their over-the-shoulder bags, but the suitcases slid and tumbled to jab their
ribs and legs.
Let’s get out of here! Before the train
takes off! They gathered their belongings and rushed to the partially opened
door. The train jerks forward then a
high-pitched, bellowing animal scream, like a fluted pipe, fills the air. Then silence. Men were yelling and calling.
They hear, He's' over. Back 'er up” “Get off 'im! amidst a hollow,
rounded sounding wail. Neither James nor
Maggie had ever heard pain expressed so woefully and mournfully.
What's that sound James? Margaret looks frightened of what she cannot
see, only hear.
It's some kind of animal, I think. It’s
louder than an ox, and higher pitched. What
is that? James wonders out loud. A
clear ear splitting trumpeting tapers to a purring, sputtering sound that
churns like an ailing engine. Then a
loud trumpeting again. An early morning
light is coming through the partially opened door. The workers have left this box car. James and Margaret desperately want to leave
it without goodbyes.
Reverberations
between metal train cars calmed and they stood to feel for bodily injury. The
locomotive then revs up and reverses backwards!
Margaret and James were jolted to the metal floor. The train
tipped. Then, the train car crashed
onto it's right side. The rolled
canvasses and crates were tossed about tumbling into the shifting walls. The sound of crates of china and glass
shuffled, slid, then shattered against the sides of the car along with Margaret
and James. The train car strained its
connections, derailed and suddenly, fell sideways. A flash of sunlight flooded
through the car's sliding door, now on the top giving a view of wispy clouds
swiping a blue sky. In the distance, a symphony of trumpeting, overlapped with
echoing trumpeting. The distant trumpeting, seemed to be calling, asking for a
response, from what might be...?
Climb along the sides Margaret. We can
get out on top, maybe unseen James hoarsely called from the bottom
of the sideways train car.
I don't know if I can move, Margaret groaned. I hit the side hard and my hip is locked.
Joe, hey Joe! Romeo and Juliet… they're here in the bottom of the train car!
Better stay there for a minute, Rory called
into the car. We were headed to the
chow tent, until we saw the accident. The train's derailed and rolled on top of
Jumbo, Bailey's Prize elephant.
Circus? James looks to
Margaret.
James climbs the pile of crates, grabs
hold of the door edge, and pulls himself up and out. He and the men go to look for a rope to help
Margaret. In the meantime, Margaret felt
an excruciating pain. The human shouts after the silenced animal fills her with
a sorrow for having left home. The aloneness
blended with the fear of how will she start over in a large city? Then she saw a Baleek cup intact. In front of her a crate of Baleek china cups
and saucers has cracked open in the fall.
In her want to hold onto their dream of a new life with a family,
Margaret searched through the chipped ivory colored shards to find three sets
in mint condition. They were carefully
wrapped in clothing and tucked into her bag.
It was her way to begin a legacy for her and James’ children. Their family will happen, she consoled
herself.
A rope was
dropped down and James dropped back into the car to tie it under Margaret's
arms. The three men above hoisted her,
while James cradled a foothold for her.
Maggie grabbed the metal opened door and pulled herself out to the
morning sunlight. James climbed on top of the crates and canvas rolls with the
suitcases and shoulder bags tied over his shoulders. He used the last of his rested strength to
pull himself up out of the train car.
Margaret sat on top of the car, mesmerized by the scene in front of her.
Along miles of
train track were brightly painted P.T. Barnum and J.A. Bailey’s Circus,
Greatest Show on Earth. Flourishing
gold framed and crowned train cars were decorative in gold –leafed patterns
along the top. Margaret gazed wondrously
at what seemed to be a mile of red and gold trains on each of three
tracks. Beyond the ticket gate were
llamas, polar bears and cages of cats, lions, spider monkeys and zebras. She saw black and white horses, mounds of
hay, and two giraffes. A hill-sized
elephant was on it's side under the train car just before theirs. It is the most enormous beast she has ever
seen, maybe 13 feet in from head to foot and textured like dried mud in an
empty creek bed.
Maybe twenty
other elephants' ears were caught and prodded with bull hooks to move crates
and boxes. Their trainers called and
shouted Hey! Derri! Heye! Steh, Ragu,
Steh! Their steps were like a dance,
choreographed between the trainer and wrinkled wise-eyed beasts. The elephants massive mounded frames heaved
like mountains and moved on short tree trunk legs. An elephant's trunk seemed to be an animal
all its own. The trunk moved like a
giant snake that hooked around handles or poles and lifted people and bales of
hay. Its tip was more of a dexterous appendage
with a graceful thumb- that opened, grasped small objects with minute skills
several feet from it's eyes. Margaret
McKillip Franklin had stopped breathing in her amazement.
A Circus, James said
again quietly, staring in disbelief.
Margaret recognized the words and wanted
them to bring meaning. She could only
stare at the menagerie in front of her.
The color, the gold lettering, the shouts and most of all the loud,
agonizing, sputter the enormous elephant of releasing its life completely captured
her focus. Jumbo was not in her
ability to comprehend. Margaret had
never seen so much un-harnessed chaos and sporadic motion. James joined her to
revel in the red and gold train cars and collaboration of man and animal
working together.
An elephant is dying? James attempted to
understand by saying the words. This
relocation was his idea, the marriage, saving of money, staying in the train
car had all come from him. What
nightmare had he brought to the blossom of their marriage? Was he really able to fulfill the vow he’d
made to his father-in-law to keep Margaret safe.
Come on Maggie,
we've got to get out of here before they see us! James held her elbow to redirect her
attention to climbing off the top of the toppled train.
The young couple
arrived in Chicago, the rail hub of the country, and were greeted by tugboats
and rail yards belching smoke. The stockyard stank pervasively in the air and
privy vaults infected water wells in many backyards. Sanitary discipline was mandatory for survival
while Margaret and James became part of Chicago doubling its population. Daniel, her younger brother offered her his
home as they got settled. James stayed
with some friends of his wagon drivers from back home.
P.
T. Barnum says that the younger elephant, Tom Thumb, was on the railroad
tracks. Jumbo was walking up to lead him to safety, but an unexpected
locomotive hit Tom Thumb, killing him instantly. Because of this, the
locomotive derailed and hit Jumbo, killing him too.
